Re: [RBW] Downtube shifter diehards vs. downtube shifter experimenters

[Tim McNamara]

Downtube friction. I guess I am a diehard, I used Shimano STI first and then Campy Ergo during the decade I raced, but after I stopped in 2000 I went back to downtube friction shifting. It's just what I prefer, I suppose because that's what I grew up with. I don't like all those cables going to the handlebars.

I have STI on our tandem, downtubers would be difficult as the braze-ons would have to be brazed on and I don't feel like ruining the paint. Besides, it's not like I am out there saying "jeez, I HATE STI, why aren't their downtube shifters on this bike?!?" STI doesn't ruin the ride for me.

It's a bike, not a fetish. Or at least it ought to be.

On Jul 29, 2011, at 7:00 AM, Forrest wrote:

> Among those of you who now use downtube shifters (or have in the past), how many of you are confirmed fans of downtube shifting, and how many of you tried it as an experiment but then switched to a different shifting system that you felt was better? Oh, and any thoughts re downtube indexed vs. downtube friction would be welcome.

[charlie]

I enjoy down tube levers also and grew up riding them....not quite as
convenient but having to stretch down slightly keeps me from
obsessively shifting. Since I built my first single (actually two)
speed, I've gone from a 8 to a 7 speed drive train on my derailleur
bicycle and will probably remove my triple crank and go with a 46x30
double. I'm just finding I don't need so many gear ratios which makes
me wonder about my first old ten speed. I think those early derailleur
bicycles with 4 and 5 rear cogs were pretty cool too.

[Dan Abelson]

I have 9 speed indexed Dura Ace downtube shifters on my AHH.  I like them a lot.  I had silver shifters on there before but I prefer the indexed Dura Ace.  My AHH is a 55cm.

Dan Abelson

St. Paul, MN

[Michael Hechmer]

I have found that every system has some advantage.  Brifters for riding in heavy traffic; BE friction for touring; DT friction for pure joy riding; but my tandem has BE indexed because I'm too far away to hear it, although I find shifting the tandem with Shimano indexed pretty slow compared to the instantaneous reaction of my Ram. with DT friction.

michael 

[cyclotourist]

Those are exactly what I have. No intention of ever removing them as they work great for road biking.  I have bar ends on my trail bike as I don't always want to take my hands off the bars on that one.

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Cheers,
David
Redlands, CA

...in terms of recreational cycling there are many riders who would probably benefit more from
improving their taste than from improving their performance. - RTMS

[robert zeidler]

+1 on STI, and for that matter SPD also. I have always heard you'll
damage STI in a crash, but I've never had that happen although
crashes, thank my personal deity, have been rare. I have, however, a
box full of broken BE shifters, which now are used/given/lent as spare
parts, and are almost completely a result of 0 mph tip-overs or some
such. If your in Litchfield, NE and your bike tips over while you
were taking a quick comfort break, and you BE snaps off, who's going
to fix it? Yes eventually STI shifters do run the course of a useful
lifespan, but the journey is worth it. Same goes for SPD's. Once you
get a pair of shoes (SIDI's for example) dialed-in, there is nothing
better. The A520/530 are my own preference, but YMMV.

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[Steve Palincsar]

On Wed, 2011-08-03 at 07:41 -0400, robert zeidler wrote:
> If your in Litchfield, NE and your bike tips over while you
> were taking a quick comfort break, and you BE snaps off, who's going
> to fix it?

I've been using bar end shifters since 1974 or 1975, currently have them
on something like 6 or 7 bikes, and not only haven't had a BE snap off,
have neither seen it, nor ever have heard of it before. And believe me,
I take plenty of "naturals," you could even call me Mr. Natural, alias
I. P. Everywhere.

[Mojo]

I have seen plenty of STI failure, but never bar ends

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[Michael Hechmer]

This thread seems to have divided into two parts, but I want to respond to both.

I have broken two pairs of Ultegra STI shifters in crashes, fortunately not irreparably so.  The first one went down hard on a dirt road and was so filled with dirt it would not work.  I needed to flush nearly a whole bottle of wd 40 through them to clean them out.  The second was an endo through an old style parallel sewer grate, which cracked both of the little plastic caps and Shimano charged an ungodly amount for replacements.  I have crashed with BE and never had any problem, in fact it's hard to think what could break.

Unrelated, I used Campy NR DT shifters and then the first version of Chorus DT 7 spd shifters and I never found them "vague".  Both of those, mated to Campy derailleurs had a very definite overshift, which requires a very slight backing up with the shifter.  Once mastered it was second nature.

michael

[velomann]

Over a period of 40+ years and tens of thousands of bike miles on all
kinds of rigs and several good hard crashes, I have had 2 irreparable
shifter failures. The first was my Shimano 600 downtube shifters
(right 6-speed) the notches for indexing simply wore out. Thought I
have to admit I was living in a cascade rainforest at the time and
driving to work, so a lot of my riding on this bike was on rollers and
the downtube shifters (and headset and stem bolt) ended up with salt
corrosion from my sweat, so I think that contributed. But I also hear
these particular shifters were prone to failure. The second failure
was last year when my front 105 brifter died in the middle of a cross
race.I tried flushing with copious amounts of Triflow and all kinds of
tricks, but the catch mechanism was simply broke. Again, I've heard
from others that this particular Shimano 105 "double/triple" left
brifter fails commonly. All in all, like many things bike related, I'm
mostly amazed at how well even inexpensive components continue to
perform.